Bristol Twp. Security Cameras May Have Violated Wiretap Law

Bristol Township’s township manager said a new security camera system installed at the Municipal Complex on Bath Road might be violating Pennsylvania’s wiretapping law.

Following LevittownNow.com filing a Right-To-Know request for information on the camera system, Township Manager Bill McCauley brought up the issue at last week’s council meeting.

McCauley said the new cameras installed during a recent renovation at the Municipal Complex include both video with audio recording capabilities.

In Pennsylvania, tight wiretap laws put strict prohibitions on the electronic recording on private conversations. According to the ACLU, “Pennsylvania’s Wiretap Law makes it illegal to record private conversations – which can include conversations in public places – without the consent of all parties to the conversation.”

The township’s IT staff uncovered the recordings function and alerted township officials, according to McCauley.

The vendor, according to the township manager, is working to come up with a patch that will disable audio recording on the cameras for good. A Bucks County Detective has been assigned to assist the township, District Attorney David Heckler said.

McCauley recently penned a letter to Heckler asking for guidance on the issue. Heckler said he was glad to provide assistance and a detective to help remedy the problem.

“Having the recording equipment with the potential to use it (for recording conversations without consent) can be a violation (of the wiretap law,)” Heckler said.

LevittownNow.com’s Right To Know request was seeking invoices and spec sheets for the new camera system. As of Wednesday morning, the Right To Know request had not been returned.

McCauley last week said the audio recording capability was provided to Bristol Township as a mistake by the vendor.

“Unknown to us, we had ordered cameras with all the video because you can’t use the audio, and apparently the vendor sent cameras with audio and video,” McCauley said. “The vendor thought they were doing us a favor and they didn’t know the ramifications.”

The cameras are installed inside and outside the building. Some of the cameras are even installed in offices were cash transactions take place.

The patch to permanently disable audio recording will be installed by early May, McCauley said.

A request for further comment from McCauley was not returned.

Editor’s Note: Bristol Township responded to the Right-To-Know request by asking for an extension. The letter was postmarked from the Bristol post office on April 22 and was not received until April 29.